MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK : a gorgeous mess!
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- Опубликовано: 21 авг 2024
- Buy the MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK: amzn.to/39yt1w3
The B550 Tomahawk is a bit of a bipolar product. On one hand you have this amazing VRM, great cooling elements, and durable 6 layered PCB.
On the other, the back IO is a mess, with some useless features, and, let’s face it, sometimes MSI is not totally honest about their spec claims (5.1 GHz RAM anyone?).
But despite some marketing stunts and some missed opportunities, the MAG B550 TOMAHAWK remains one of the best gamer motherboard I have been given the pleasure to toy with!
Enjoy 😊 
Наука
I use 4x8 Gskill Trident Z RGB/NEO 3200 c14 clocked to 4000 c16 16 16 36, with an 5800x. And it's working fine ! I guess ram can go much higher but i need to keep 1:1:1 ratio...Didn't tried going above that because i know that right now , not many 5000 cpu's can reach 2000 FCLK or above. So Maybe with ryzen 3000 you can't go past 3600 with 4 sticks of ram, but with 5000 you can even go above 4000. Memory frequency is driven by the memory controller from the cpu for the most part, ofc motherboard have it's role in that aswell , but the culprit usually is the memory controller from the cpu itself.
And the front panel usb 3.2 header is 5gbs not 10.
Im pinning this very useful comment to the top of the video feed.
Thank you Richard for taking the time to write this!!!!
good to point you made there, it's probably my only complaint about that board... lack of a front panel 3.2 gen 2 usb port
RAM speed doesnt make any difference for gaming though, and since this is a gaming motherboard, even if the RAM was 2400MHz it would play games exactly the same as 10000MHz RAM. So by lowering the speed per module its not making any difference I think. If this was directed towards high end servers running special software that require fast RAM, I would say yeah its some sort of scam haha
@@PrettyKenziePrincess It depends, if u are heavy cpu bound , u may see some fps increase , sometimes even a noticeable difference. But in most cases the difference is small or sometimes not at all. I've testet with an i3 12100f with 2133 mhz and 3200 mhz , and in Guild Wars 2 the difference was noticeable , like 15+ fps more (the minimum fps).
@@richardstoica2954 I see what you mean, Im running a 5950x with 64gb ram, I have tried benchmarks at 2133mhz and 4000mhz and the scores were basically identical. So it must also depend on the processing power. No game is gonna max out the 5950x even Star Citizen, which is the game I play the most at the moment, its the most CPU intensive game I have ever played, it took my old CPU (intel 6950x) to around 80%, my new CPU the 5950x never goes beyond 40% and the ram speed make no difference at all so far.
Oh no, its that insane french guy again!
Ahaha ...aie aie Captain!
insane french chicks are hot.
not gonna lie i subbed because of that XD
Another wonderful review Laurent! You literally expressed every single stupid choice on the back IO that I was thinking!
Love your reviews, they are really good and detailed, thanks to your review I enjoy my X570 Asrock Steel legend, which works great with my Ryzen 7 3700x and 32Gb 3600 RAM, and M.2 PCi4 drive, during the build I went back to your video to find the right pins on the board as I have not 20/20 vision to read all the small labels on the board.....keep up the good work....planning a build for my son for his primary school graduation next year, so better the grades so better the PC....
So glad u took the time to let me know about this.
Share ur son s build when ur done with it :)
just stumbled on this channel whilst looking at z490 reviews, and I must say this is the best delivery and explanation of each motherboard that I have seen from any tech channel. Very easy to listen to as well and clear breakdowns of obviously heavy technobabble and marketing common from manufacturers. Kudos.
Welcome aboard! and thanks for the kind words :)
Happy to see MSI boards being reviewed and happier still it was a spot on overview. You never miss a beat - best motherboard reviewer bar none.
I have a motherboard already, but I still watch your reviews because your delivery is hilarious. I really enjoy how you talk about these complex devices!
The praise it received for its cooling in various reviews and the inclusion of a front panel Type-C header were enough for me to opt for it. Going with an NZXT H510 Elite, I really wanted to be able to utilize that front port, even though I could've gone for something cheaper that's maybe only slightly worse in overall quality.
It’s kinda pathetic in my professional opinion how uncommon a front USB c header has been from great companies like Asus @ the price point.
It should have been standard years ago on anything but ultra budget boards.
Are you still running this mobo? How do you like it?
Thanks. I was on the edge which motherboard to use for my gaming rig, and this video settled it, because i know from your prior videos that you point your finger towards flaws, and wouldnt hold back naming them. If you say this is the board to go for below 200, thats it then.
You know, just in time when my 6700k system died and I'm in the market for a good and affordable mobo for my new Ryzen build, and me conflicting between so many options, your review really came at the right time. Thank you for helping me making up my mind.
that's precisely why I do these reviews. For people like you .
My 4790k system died yesterday. I did everything I could to bring it back to life. My new AMD system components arrive today.
I picked and bought this board because it had two ethernet ports which I use in a link aggregration setup and can use the 2.5gbe port when affordable 2.5gbe switches come out. I don't understand why people want Wifi, it's flaky at the best of time. It just can't beat wired ethernet at the moment.
I like the graphics you use for explaining the motherboards layout! Easy to understand and informative.
WE CANT STRETCH OUR ETHERNET CORDS THROUGH THE CEILING, MY MOM WOULD NOT ENJOY ME DRILLING HOLES IN THE FLOOR TO GET WIRED INTERNET.
@@zm4475 I used Power Line adapters when I was in the same situation more reliable with more stable throughput than WIFI.
Tell you mom that I allowed it
Many good points. But PS/2 is essential for a good keyboard and a second LAN is highly valued. Gaming boards are the best cheap workstation boards anyway so do not talk MSI out of the PS/2 port!
I'm with you on the PS2 Ports! Besides,it they put USB ports instead,then you gotta use them up for Mouse & KB,so what do you gain?
There's also the MSI Gaming Edge Wifi which appears to be virtually identical to this board, comparing the two it has exactly the same components in the same places. At $10 more it adds Wifi, loses the secondary LAN port, and has a vastly different aesthetic. I have no use for Wifi but I think the Tomahawk is as ugly as sin so I bought the Gaming Edge. $10.00 was worth it to me to not to have to look at the Tomahawk every day.
PS/2 seems to be a waste until you get a Windows install where it hasn't properly loaded USB-2 drivers so a USB keyboard and mouse won't work, yet it won't advance until it you enter your user name. I had this happen on a Dell SFF prebuilt I was trying to reload the latest version of Windows on after a drive crash and the only solution was to dig an ancient PS-2 keyboard out from the castoff pile in the basement.
USB ports are skimpy, but at least they included front USB-C, something most manufacturers don't do at this price point. If you need a bunch of I/O presumably you buy the X570 version. Or do like I did an add a Startech 4-port, 4-host-controller USB card because I was tired of having USB issues when using motherboard ports with four sensors for my Oculus Rift.
dude, i stumbled here after researching witch motherboard to get, and i think im sold
i dont have 8 pmw fans, but i might get them eventually
loved your video and subbed!
Would like to see a review on the x570 tomahawk!
If the date is right i had ordered five B450 Tomahawk boards from different venders.July of 2020 i was just waiting,you were very lucky to even own this board by then!
I'm not a gamer and I purchased this board in early 2024 because of its excellent reviews (lack of problems) on multiple web sites. CPU/Video: originally 5700G, currently 5700X / 30 watt NVIDIA GT 1030. Other components: 2TB Samsung 990 Pro SSD, 64GB Crucial Pro DDR4-3200 memory (2 x 32GB), be quiet! 550 watt power supply, Noctua CPU and case fans. I wanted stability and reliability above all and after three months of use it's performed flawlessly.
I love this channel! You helped me choose this board for my first ever build~
(Also, I agree with that 1G LAN and PS/2 lol)
Great review! You should compare this motherboard with the Asrock b550 steel legend, please!
FIRST ! love your channel, I always check this channel before I buy a board !
You rock!
Great video! I've been going in circles on this board and your video explained very concisely what i've been going through. Every time I'm about to give up on this board I look at competition in the same price segment and end up coming back to it. Still shopping around for black Friday sales but if nothing pops up i'm pulling the trigger on this.
LOL, I am going to clip the tomahawk joke and troll people on reddit. Giving credit to you of course. Great review, thank you.
Ur welcome to :)
I really like what you are doing here. Refreshing and original take on the usual mobo review. Thank you.
Could this have been under 10 min?
Thanks for the kind words
So I try to cover about the most requested features. It is hard to go under 10min but.. I am not adding chapters so that people can just skip directly to what they are interested to watch and easily skip parts who are of no interest to them :)
9:04 I disagree with this too; Gamers should NEVER, EVER be on Wi-Fi; Wi-Fi is NOT ACCEPTABLE for online gaming, no matter how "good" your wifi is; it's just a less stable link, and low jitter + 0 packet drop is the only thing that matter for online gaming, bandwidth is IRRELEVANT.
Therefore, having 2 ethernet cable means you can use the PC also as a LAN switch to route a cable to another computer, helping in having a ethernet network in your house instead of relying on Wi-Fi.
Being that I have had the board for a while now. One of reasons I bought the board was that it did not have Wifi. The 2.5Gb nic was a nice swap out for it.
yeah I don't want WIFI on a desktop... I use cables for that ALWAYS... wifi can be used on laptops and mobile phones... NOT stationary items
In lan you can put a printer to share over network. Actually I did myself and all can share. I do not have to buy switch and then worry about power plugs and more tangling wires..Regarding integrated graphic cpu many people use for just productivity so graphic card not needed. As you know it is a cheap motherboard so many do not need graphic card for business use.
Absolutely understood :)
But in a gaming board such as the TOMAHAWK, would he loved to see this replaced by gaming friendly features :)
Though ur point makes sense :) thanks for sharing.
you are the best motherboard reviewer. I am telling this after seeing reviews from about 30+ RUclips channels on Computers.
Nice comprehensive review 👍.
Regarding the 2 lan ports, honestly I want to try hooking up my rasberry pi to one lan port whilst connecting the other to my router to have some fun with networking but thats just me 😅.
+1 sub.
Hello and congrats for the videos you make. But may I suggest the pricing for the x570 tomahawk is actually 200 usd mrsp vs 180 for the b550 tomahawk? 350 usd is for the msi x570 unify, if I am not mistaking. I wouldn't have posted, but I just bought the x570 tomahawk for aprox 200 euros, and I think it is much better value than the b550. Anyways, keep up the good work!
Hey :) thanks for the comments:)
So the price i use are the ones available on main US stores today.
In the US, the x570 TOMAHAWKs price sky rocketed :).
At 200 euros, its an absolute bargain!!!!
Laurent's Choice it’s msrp is $220 which is a good price.
There is a version of this board with Wifi/bluetooth antenna connectors.
The Msi Mag b550 Tomonawk max Wi-Fi is probably what you’re talking about
This guy is a good communicator. Thanks for the review
Hi Laurent! Really good and informative video! Instant sub!
So I have a question
Should I get this board for R7 3700x? I just bought B450 tomahawk max before this board launched and I'm confused on whether I should just use the b450 or return it and get this one?
If u can swap... do it.
The tech jump between b450 and b550 is the biggest I have seen in a few years.
@@Laurentschoice alrighty sir! Thanks for the replies!
I find it funny when you removed all heatsinks it pretty much turns into super budget $90 MSI B550M-A Pro the barebones one not its ATX bigger brother but with still superior Mosfets and VRM overall.
please also review the B550m TUF plus wifi please. I always enjoy and learn from your reviews, thanks!
You have some really good points. Happy I found your channel, subscribed!!!
I love your reviews. I think the same heatsink for VRM's are on Tomahawk?
Merci de prendre le temps d'expliquer, de manière claire et conçise, les propriétés de cette carte mère. J'm'abonne!
But it is mentioned as HDMI 2.1 in MSI motherboard website.
Now is it 1.4b or 2.1?? Please let me know as I am planning to buy this board
2 lan ports are great... 1Gbit for Internet (it is 1Gbit out to the net anyways so perfectly fine) 2.5Gbit for the NAS = super fast storage solution, which is excellent. PS2 connect and gpu connectors on an ATX board can just go and die... APU's should not be used in ATX sized motherboards.
If only B550 Tomahawk come with Wifi6+BT5 😓
thats why we have mpg gaming edge wifi, for just 10 dollars extra!
@@Nahres ... but the Wifi did not come only for 10 dollars: say goodbye to the second M.2 heatsink and it seems to me that subtly less material has been used on the VRM heatsinks than Tomahawk.
haha just bought this motherboard for a programming station / gaming station due to those dual LAN ports XD well I know I could have gone for a "workstation" motherboard, but this one had all of the feature I needed for an hybrid build. So... even if you didn't enjoy the dual ports, thanks for pointing that feature out, it really helped me choose :)
what cpu cooler and color changing RAM did you use? Amazing video by the way! Very helpful. 💓
Great review!
I’ve waited with getting my b550 of choice (aorus b550m pro) in the hopes of my favorite motherboard reviewer having a look at it, so I hope you will be able to check that one out soon.
Yes yes its coming :):):)
Thanks for an excellent review! I really enjoy your accent! Tres bien et merci beaucoup!
what motherboard do you recommend for budget gamers like us?NO matter how bad the tomahawk is that is the best in the whole world. who doesn't agree with me?
Thanks for this! Very thorough. Would you buy one of these if the x570 Tomahawk is unavailable, or wait for the x570?
may i know which one do you think is the best overall? The MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK or the GIGABYTE B550 AORUS ELITE?
Can you plz suggest best b550 motherboard in the market ?
Very entertaining review man. Good Job :)
2nd LAN is for people who use this in home workstations and need dual LAN connectivity. It's not super common but it happens.
Hey Laurent!
What do you think about this board, MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk (£120), versus the MSI MAG B550 Gaming Plus (£100)?
I've seen both of your reviews for these boards, however, I'm interested in terms of comparison, which one do you think is better considering the price difference of only £20?
Also, any other boards which you think that can compete with these ones?
Thank you in advance!
Alright, you got me subscribed once you explained the French meaning of Tomahawk :)
My small Tom!
I just grabbed the X570 version, are you thinking of doing a review on that?
Both M.2 slots on the X570 Tomahawk are PCIE 4.0 x4, but the user manual labels the first slot as M2_1(CPU), and the second slot as M2_2(PCH). Will it bottleneck my performance if put my M.2 SSD into the second slot instead of the first?
Love your reviews btw! Great production value, and you cut right to the chase!
I am filming tomorrow , will be uploaded Wednesday
On the X570, it makes no real difference
9:00 they already did that, its the wifi version of the b550 tomahawk. which doesnt have the ethernet 1gb
Lool best intro ever
@Laurent's Choice Not sure the reasoning but maybe this is why the two LAN ports? After installing this motherboard, i ran an internet speed test... i noticed i was getting nearly half as fast download and upload speeds than usual. I was using the 2.5 port figuring MOAR=BETTER even though it doesnt exactly fit my use case. I switched to the 1GB port and my speeds were back to normal.... maybe this is why theyre both included? I imagine how pissed i would be if only the 2.5 port was avail to me given if there arent some settings that could be tweaked (?)... regardless it would still be annoying considering my a320 i upgraded from was plug and go for me as there was only the 1GB supported port.... is the 2.5GB port not backwards compatible for those of us who dont support those speeds thus including both? btw loved the review best on this board. Subbed. I bought this motherboard for 25.00 and aparently it was only a month old. The kid messed with bios settings and got black screens, no post. Albelt he was selling for parts, i had a feeling it was fine and i was right. Took a while to figure out what he did lol but worth it. Considering i was fixing to pay full price at best buy i was VERY happy. And i NEVER buy used, but i couldnt pass this up.
Double Ethernet is fantastic to have for gamers, no one should be gaming on Wifi. And having a backup Ethernet port is perfect. 6 USB is perfect for back IO, if 8 USB ports isnt enough for you, wtf kind of rig are people running where they need more than 8 USB ports??
Love the content is there anyway you can do a x 570 asrock phantom gaming x motherboard review pretty please.
HDMI port is not working on my motherboard b550 tomahawk,had replaced the item with new one.bt still the problem persists.😔
Did u check if the integrated video was enabled in your bios ;)
If it persists. Remove ur video card. Reset the board (remove battery and clear cmos. Wait 2 minutes put back the battery in) and boot you computer with only the hdmi plug to ur screen.
Should work.
I'm building my first computer i had chose this MSI motherboard on paper but after your review I'm not sure is there another one in the same price range you can recommend
If you talk about the B550 Tomahawk competitors, I think you're better talking about the Asus ROG Strix B550-F Gaming and the Gigabyte Aorus Pro, because they have closer prices to the Tomahawk than the TUF B550 and the B550 Aorus Elite, and more similar features.
For anyone else reading this today, which would you prefer? This or the gigabyte aorus pro?
50 seconds in and I already Liked the video. Sad I didn't see this before I ordered it last night.
7:48 A PC should never be plugged in HDMI, DP is always preferable; It's totally fine to have HDMI 1.4 there just in case you need it for debugging or wathever, or maybe for a scecondary monitor, and you DEFINITELY don't want to be running dual 4K on a igpu anyways so it doesn't matter much
Ditch the second lan and ps port for 3 more usb and it's be golden.
Hello Laurent,
Will there be a video about B550 Aorus Pro? I'd like to see your opinion about this board
Yes there will be :)
Laurent's Choice I desperately want to see it because now I’m stuck between AORUS Pro B550 and Asus Prime X570-P for the Ryzen 3900x. Honestly, I’ll really appreciate if you briefly mention which board is better in the next video. Thanks for your time !
@@alantoblooddy which board you bought? And how's it going
Update if you get the latest b550 mag tomahawk it can support the ryzen 5600x
where did you buy from?
@@adam-xn8vz I'm from UK and got it from scancomputers
hey i'm sold thanks you very much hope you grow fast on ytb that's explain very well, love the french accent and humor i'm also uh i plan to get this comfig this going to be my first pc gamer i was a console player before now,
so for let's sayy holiday 2020 i will have it and buy it there is the part
the tomahawk b550
a amd rayzen 7 3700x
for the GPU the last thing and more expensive I'll buy the geforce 3080
uh also for the ram what's you saying is if i put only one the pc will run better ?
and also a corsair A500 dual fan for the cpu and all
can you tell me if it's a solid quality build pc already?
french linus is best up and coming tech channel.
I'm greatfull that it has 2 network ports and not one, because i have 2 networks, and no gaming on wifi is bad
excellent review. love the vibe. :DDD
damn bro, what should I choose Tomahawk or Elite v2? I'm confused
How about a XPG SX8200 2TB in first m.2, and a Samsung 960 Pro 1Tb in the second m.2? That's all the storage I plan on running.
dude i wanted to buy an motherbord,but after watching your videos,i dont want anymore..i wiil buy a console)))
MSI website specs says the HDMI port is 4K 60Hz
I was so glad for bios flasback because my tomahawk did not post with r5 5600x
I have this Board and its worked very well for me...The only problem is that I lost the screws for the CPU Fan Bracket adaptor thing and don't know where the hell I can get a replacement...Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can secure the bracket to the board without the Screws ?
I still dont get why wifi should be on a desk top computer. Are ya gonna take it to the bathroom when taking a dump? Hardwire it
Had a chance yet to review the GB Aurus Elite board?
Got one after my X570 Steel Legend got bricked after a failed Bios update.
Very thorough video! Coming from the book of faces (AMD enthusiast group) aaand its a sub ;)
The board looks really solid but it could use some more USB ports in the rear...
Agreed :):)
Is it worth to change B450 TOMAHAWK MAX to B550 TOMAHAWK for 25 euros? I wanted to pick B550\X570 anyway for PCI-E 4.0 after i saw RTX 30X0 fast acces to SSD feature. I still have time to change my order :D
Is it worthwhile to spend an extra 100 dollars on the X570 vs B550?
Hey bro what you think about this setup?:
Ryzen 7 3700x, rx570 MSI Gaming X 4 gb, 16 gb ddr4 3600 cl 17 viper 4, MSI mag b550 tomahawk, SPC navis RGB 240 & SPC vero L3 600w?
LOL I'm thinking about buying this today or the ASUS ROG Strix X570-E. I will use your links btw. Just cannot decide between the two. I am trying to gut out my Alienware R10. Just need to buy a Mobo, a PSU and a case.
You are very kind . I do appreciate it greatly !!
@@Laurentschoice I appreciate your videos! 🙃
I’ve got Wi-Fi series my question is, is it Ryzen 9 5900x ready.
how much important are those PCB layers ? i was keen on to Elite V2 after your review - but it only has 4 PCB layers
meanwhile this has 6 - the diffrence in price in my country is about $25
having these 2 extra PCBs really affect your board in every aspects :
- better VRM heat dissipation
- longer life-span
- better PCIe signal isolation
- better audio recording (less statics)
- more durable.
I hope this helps.
@@Laurentschoice shit..., man, I bought Elite V2
@@Laurentschoice and can also include better pathing for RAM slots.
Hey Good Video. What Would you prefer ? The x570 MEG Unify or the b550 rog Strix e? Thanks
which is better? b550 aorus elite v2 or b550 tomahawk
I like it because the PS/2 and second LAN port.
;)
This Motherboard or the Gigabyte B550 Aorus Pro AC for a ryzen 5800x? Merci laurent...:)
Why big nono for hdmi 1.4? No one even uses those bc 99% has separate gpu.
nostalgic idea,pleAse review B450 tomahawk max
Just watch your review I have this coming tomorrow from Amazon got it for $164 would you say I'm okay it's going to be a flight simulator and the stock market what do you think....?
Would love to have your take on the Gigabyte B550 Vision D. Is it worth the price for what it offers? How does it compare to other offerings in the same price range.
Hey :)
So I'm reviewing the b550 Vision D in August.
After taking a look at the z490 vision D already can tell u that its the best b550 board u can get at that price range.
Problem is to find it . Stock are scarce
@@Laurentschoice totally hyped now for the review.. thanks .. I have found no detailed content on that board.
Can I use a PCIE 3.0 Extension Riser to make my MSI RTX 2070 Super vertical. ? or should I use a PCIE 4.0 Extension Riser?
You can use either :) They will both work :)
@@Laurentschoice Thank you
Nice review... Subscribed :)
I see the b550 gaming edge wifi is similare but with wifi and a better look?You think what about it?
Which would you recommend?
X570 Tomahawk or B550 Tomahawk?
Thanks In Advance
b550
Thanks for the vid